Home With You
by svetlainie
Summary: Alek meets the Sharp family but there's only one he really wants to spend time with. A short, fluffy drabble.
1. Chapter 1

**A little homecoming fluff for ya but I own nothing. Credits to the masterful Scott Westerfeld.**

It had been an exhausting day to say the least. Alek and Deryn had flown in to Glasgow that morning, mercifully sans Volger or Dr. Barlow, and since then Alek had met nearly every single one of Deryn's aunties, cousins, nieces and nephews. The neverending flow of people was noisier and more jovial than anything he had ever experienced in his childhood. It was quite dark when Mrs. Sharp finally shooed everyone home.

Deryn had also retired early. She was, he expected, anxious to finally get away the prying of her aunties or the nagging of her mother. Alek wasn't too keen on being alone with Mrs. Sharp just yet; her bright blue eyes were so much like Deryn's and he desperately wanted to make a good impression. However, Deryn had ruffled his hair as she left the sitting room, lingering a little longer than proper, and the piercing gaze that Mrs. Sharp gave the pair of them was enough to convince him to stay firmly seated in one of the old, weathered armchairs for at least another twenty minutes. Alek dared a small smile and nod to Mrs. Sharp before studiously opening his book, a bit of studying for Dr. Barlow.

Besides, it was a rare treat to have this kind of leisure in front of a warm fire. Though the house was smaller and much less grand than Konopischt, it reminded him of quiet nights spent with his parents. If he squinted, he could almost imagine that Mrs. Sharp, who was seated in a low chair and embroidering, was...his own mother. The thought, though he knew it was silly, brought that dull ache in his chest, the quiet sadness of his parent's deaths, up to his throat. Deryn would never get the chance to meet his own parents. He almost laughs, she would have charmed them no doubt, and he swallows the ache with a mouthful of tea.

Eventually even Mrs. Sharp went to bed. She had finished her sewing for the day and she could tell that Alek needed to be left to his thoughts. He was a polite and honourable young man, but she could see the quiet sadness in his eyes because she recognized it in her Deryn. Kindred spirits, the pair of them. She could see the way they look at each other, pick each other up. They'll need it with the kind of mischief they're bound to get up to.

Though Deryn had been the first one to leave the sitting room that evening, she hadn't slept a wink. She and Alek had barely gotten a chance to talk in the chaos of her homecoming. She had hoped he would follow her upstairs where they could have a moment to themselves in the hall or, if her clanker didn't object to the idea, curl up in her bed just to talk for a squick. Except Alek had not gone to bed yet even though her ma had been asleep for ages. She waited a couple more minutes, until she was dead certain she hadn't heard his quiet deliberate footsteps on the stairs before pulling on her robe and creeping downstairs herself.

The daft boy was parked in the same spot she'd left him, an open book going unread in his lap while he swirled the contents of his tea cup over and over. Suddenly he looked like the fifteen year old boy she'd met on the Leviathan, aching with secrets and grief.

"Alek?" she whispered, tiptoeing into the room.

He startled and set his cup down. "Oh, liebe, I didn't hear you come in." He turned around to face her and she saw the edges of his sadness melt a squick.

"I came down to check on you," she said. "I never heard you come upstairs."

He frowns at his watch. "I must have lost track of time." He makes a move to stand up but she slides into the wide armchair beside him and picks up the book in his lap.

"Aye, I reckon _The Politics of Darwinism in Russia and Eastern Asia_ is a real page turner." More quietly she adds, "Are you alright, love?"

He's quiet for a while. He reaches out to find her hand, clasping it with his. "You have a wonderful family," he whispers finally.

She'd like to snort and list the various assaults she's faced today. But instead she just says, "A bit different than yours, aye?" She squeezes his hand.

He laughs softly, sadly. "A bit, I suppose." A moment passes. "I wish you could have met mine."

"Me too. Though I don't think your granduncle would approve of your trousers-wearing Scottish airman, now would he?

He tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear and, blisters, she'd like to kiss him "I'm sure you'd be teaching all of court to tie knots in no time." She chuckles at the idea.

Then he kisses her, gently, like she's something precious. He makes her feel like she's flying with both feet on the ground. She breaks away for a moment. "For what it's worth, Alek, the aunties can't get enough of you."

"Really? I thought making me look at all of those photographs of their dead cats and husbands was some sort of cruel test."

"Well you passed it, then."

She kisses him this time, and she can feel him smiling. Eventually the kiss deepens, his hand in her hair and the other around her waist while her arms are wrapped around his neck. Barking spiders, she doesn't want to ever stop kissing him. But she pulls away an inch, forehead pressed to his. Breathless, she mutters, "Keep on like this, clanker, and I suspect the aunties may not adore you as much."

He somehow puts more distance between them. He clears his throat but his voice is deep and a little rough. _Blisters_. "Ah, yes, I suppose we should go to bed. Or you to your room and myself to Jaspert's—"

She cuts him off. "Aye but you've got me wide awake now." Deryn adjusts so that she's curled up against him now, head on his chest where she can hear his heartbeat. His arm wraps tightly around her, stroking her arm absentmindedly. "Tell me about that book you were reading."

"Alright, but god's wounds is it boring."

The next morning Mrs. Sharp is a little alarmed to find neither Alek nor Deryn in their respective beds. She dresses and heads downstairs, hoping to find that they'd simply gotten an early start to their day. Mrs. Sharp rarely gets exactly what she wants. She finds them downstairs alright but they're squashed into a single wide armchair, arms wrapped tightly around each other, sound asleep. She's relieved to find them fully clothed with Alek still in the shirt and pants he had on yesterday and, bless him, his tie still wrapped around his neck, though loosened a little. And her girl, his girl too she supposes, is in her pajamas and dressing gown, hair sticking up at odd angles. The more sensible part of her wants to shake them awake but something stops. Lord knows what they get up to in London, but she was young once, and in love with Deryn's da. Lord knows what they got up to in their day. She'll let them sleep for now, but she has a nagging feeling that she might me a little noisy making breakfast this morning.


	2. Chapter 2

At the sound of a large crash Deryn jerks awake with a snort and Alek, who's chest she'd been resting her head on, stirs softly in his sleep. Bright morning light streams into the Sharp's shabby sitting room. She blinks hard and rubs the sleep from her eyes. Deryn thought she had gone to sleep in her own room but then she remembered tiptoeing downstairs, talking with Alek, reading a book together, kissing Alek, _falling asleep in his arms_.

"Alek!" she hisses. "Wake up, daftie!" She could hear her Ma in the kitchen, whistling murderously. There was also no doubt that she had seen them wrapped up together like a pair of eels on her way downstairs. She had thoughts about the pair of them simply traveling together unchaperoned; who knew what was waiting for them past the kitchen door.

"Liebe? What is it?" Alek mumbles, detangling his arms from around her waist and stretching them behind his head. He slowly blinks his eyes, squinting at the sunlight through the windows.

"We fell asleep in the sitting room!" Deryn replies, shaking his shoulder. He still woke up like a bloody prince, slow and daintily.

At that he sits up straight, checks his watch, and swears. "Surely that can't be the time! Is your mother awake yet?"

"Aye she's whistling merrily in the kitchen. She'll have our hides no doubt."

Alek rubs his temple. "I think we've faced worse together than your mother. Probably best to get it over with."

"Aye, but it wouldn't hurt to have a plan, eh?" She runs her fingers through his auburn hair and tugs on a loose curl. Her usually prim prince looks a little rumpled with his wrinkled shirt and loose tie. Alek leans his head into her hand and smiles that soft smile he saves just for her.

"Yes, I suppose we could start with getting dressed." Alek rubs his neck. "And perhaps Bovril has learned how to massage. Two people to one chair does no wonders for the spine."

"But, minus the wrath of my mother," she looks at him and smirks, "it was nice to spend the night with you." That was bold even for Deryn and she expected the Clanker to blush but he only matches her gaze, eyes blazing with intensity and tenderness.

"Yes," he says softly, "I imagine that a bed could only improve the situation." Deryn grabs his hand and grins. Alek's composure begins to crumble and he turns a bit pink around the ears. He coughs. "Much later in the future...when we're more, ah, settled and, and we shouldn't make this a habit—"

Deryn cuts him off with a kiss, the kind that would shock her aunties, and Alek returns it in earnest. For all his qualms and propriety, Deryn has a way of making him go daft. He brings a hand up to the nape of her neck and she shivers, leaning into his embrace.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?" Deryn and Alek jump apart. There in the doorway, still in his airman's slops, stands none other than Jaspert Sharp.

"Jaspert is that you, you bumrag!" Deryn runs over to him him and Jaspert engulfs her in a bear hug. He shoots daggers at Alek over her shoulder.

"Aye it's me but I have a few questions— " Just then Mrs. Sharp walks in from the kitchen.

"Jaspert!" she says. "I didn't expect you to be home."

"The Minotaur's taking a stop in Glasgow," Jaspert says, "and I decided to stop for a nice home cooked meal when I walk in to find Deryn snogging some lad!" He jerks a thumb at Alek, who has stood up and hastily straightened his tie and rumpled collar from the day before.

Mrs. Sharp's eyes flick between the pair, who are trying hard not to look guilty, and sighs. Both her children are home and she'd like to not spend the time mediating a row between them. "Never mind them; he's a prince after all," she says. Alek opens his mouth to correct her; _ex-prince_ he would have said, but Deryn elbows him sharply in the ribs.

Jaspert remains unconvinced. "I don't care if he's the bloody king, but what's he doing here, Ma?"

"They're on leave from their assistant job at the Zoological Society," Mrs. Sharp replies. She shoots a look at Deryn. "Honestly Deryn, don't you send your brother any letters?"

"The boffin thought it would be best to hold off for discretion purposes, Ma. Didn't want Dylan Sharp's name being bandied about on an airship while the war was still on." Deryn says. "But it's been over a year now. I guess I just got out of habit. Sorry, Jaspert, I'm a _dummkopf_."

"Aye and she's speaking bloody clanker!" Jaspert snorts.

Mrs. Sharp smacks him with her dish towel. "Well come and eat breakfast and she can tell you all about it. How long are you on leave?"

"Three days," Jaspert replies, shooting another suspicious glance at Alek.


	3. Chapter 3

Deryn would describe the atmosphere at the breakfast table as stony, to say the least. While her Ma happily chats away, Jaspert only half listens and insteads spends his time shooting murderous glances towards Alek. Alek keeps his eyes firmly on his plate, his chair a very proper distance from hers even at the crowded table. Though when her hand finds his under the table he doesn't let go. Deryn makes a show of checking her watch.

"Alright," she says "Alek and I need to head into town to send a few letters to Dr. Barlow at the Zoo." She and Alek begin to stand, and Jaspert does as well. Mrs. Sharp's eyes dart between them.

"Actually," Mrs. Sharp says, "Deryn I needed your help with some sewing this morning."

"Ma, I'm not a seamstress I'm an—" Deryn starts.

"An airman, I know, dear, but it's tricky work and my eyes aren't what they used to be. Don't pretend I can't see that you've tailored your own shirts."

Deryn tugs are her collar. "Ma!"

"Don't argue with me, Deryn."

"Alek doesn't know the way to the post office. What if there's something urgent from the Zoo," Deryn continues.

Jaspert jumps in. "I can show him into town," he offers. "It'll be nice to see some of the lads."

Mrs. Sharp smiles. "Excellent. We've got it all sorted then," she says. She'll admit that needing help with the sewing was a fib, knowing that Jaspert would take the opportunity to spend time alone with Alek and blow off whatever steam he'd been accumulating since arriving home that morning. Alek looks nonplussed, but he's a good lad, Mrs. Sharp thinks, he'll be alright. Jaspert just needs to get to know him.

Jaspert heads to the front door and takes his jacket off the hook. "Well come on then, you highness," he calls.

Alek and Deryn share one last tender look, but then Deryn claps him on the back in a much more soldierly manner. "Best not to keep the man waiting, your princeliness," she says.

Alek and Jaspert walk in silence for several minutes and Alek takes this as an opportunity to admire the scenery. The Sharps' house is outside of metropolitan Glasgow, a sizable cottage with a large field where he assumes Deryn's Da used to launch balloons, and a couple of trees that she would have climbed in as a girl. It almost makes him smile, if it weren't for the surly man walking beside him. Jaspert is taller than Deryn, and definitely not as lanky. He looks every bit a man while Alek still feels like a boy playing dress-up.

"I'm not actually a prince anymore," Alek says, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"You don't need to call me 'your highness.' I renounced my titles. Please, call me Alek."

"First of all, I'll call you what I like," Jaspert begins, "And secondly, what I'd really like to know is why you were snogging on my sister at such an indecently early hour."

"Well, I, we…" Alek begins, realizing that no explanation will be sufficient. He remembers times with his tutors, or Volger, or his father's advisors, all bent on reminding him of his insufficient heritage. He starts over. "That was inappropriate. I apologize."

Jaspert seems slightly mollified. "Right answer." Alek offers a shaky smile and Jaspert punches him in the arm in what he supposes is a friendly manner but he worries it's going to leave a bruise. "Just don't make a habit of it, aye? It's not like my sister to be so moony over a lad so you must be special and it won't do for you to cause a town scandal."

Alek grimaces. He is very familiar with scandals, being the product of one. It was part of why he threw that blasted letter from the pope into the ocean, so that he could love Deryn without subjecting her to the court ridicule his mother faced all her life. He slows down and stops to face Jaspert, squaring his shoulders in the perfect air of a prince, only this is more genuine than any royal protocol.

"Jaspert, I know you don't know me," he begins solemnly, "but I know Deryn and I would never do anything to hurt her." He thinks of the raw terror he felt watching the Goliath send lighting skittering over the skin of the Leviathan, knowing that a single leak in the membrane would send Deryn and the rest of the crew up in flames. He can still taste the smell of burnt flesh on his tongue, and feel the shattered glass of the window cut his burnt palms. But then he thinks of the cold wind on the spine, watching the leather scroll case land in the sea with a tiny, meteoric splash. Deryn's lips on his, only a prelude. "I gave up an empire for her, and I gained so much more," he tells Jaspert.

Jaspert stares dumbfounded for a moment but then collects himself. "Take it easy, your highness."

Alek opens his mouth to correct him but then shakes his head, realizing that Deryn's habit of mis-titling him may be hereditary.


End file.
